The Paradox of “Lifesaving Rules” Guest Post by Danny Fay As part of my assignment in Unit 5 of the Diploma in Social Psychology of Risk, I am evaluating the paradox of “Lifesaving Rules” against the five principles of collective mindfulness as developed by Professor Karl Weick. Collective mindfulness is an acceptance of equivocality; understanding […]
paradox
Happy New Year and the ‘Good Life’ Paradox
Happy New Year and the ‘Good Life’ Paradox “Happy New Year! I hope that for you and your family, it is a year of much happiness, health and success!” This salutation, and many versions of it, flood our social media feeds on this, the first day of 2019. It is a customary greeting (at least […]
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Safety Hits a Snag
Safety Hits a Snag The media and social media in Australia recently lit up over the overcooked Bunnings directive that sausage sizzle volunteers must place onions beneath the sausages in order to prevent slips and falls in their stores – supported by the trite platitude that safety is their “number one priority”. Funny that Bunnings […]
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Safety, mental health and the safety paradox
It’s great to see such a focus on mental health at the moment and the activities being conducted for RU OK day etc. However, I do wonder if perhaps we are over doing it and if such an overt, theatrical or contrived approach may have unintended, harmful by-products for people with mental health issues? My […]
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The Mystery and Paradox of Being an Individual in a Social World
The Mystery and Paradox of Being an Individual in a Social World I had the privilege today to meet up with a friend, one who I’ve known for a while, yet up until today we’d not had the opportunity to meet in person, so we both made the time and effort to catch up. We […]
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Policies, procedures, stress and the safety paradox
Policies, procedures, stress and the safety paradox Great article by Greg Smith. First published here: https://mysafetythoughts.com/2018/02/11/policies-procedures-stress-and-the-safety-paradox/ Something I have often observed over the years I have been commenting on health and safety management, is the Safety Paradox. The Safety Paradox supposes initiatives for health and safety have the capacity to improve safety outcomes, but also […]
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If Safety Took Over Love and Marriage!
What would happen if Safety and Risk (as most people know it) took over Love and Marriage in the same way it’s taken over our workplaces? NB: This was first published in August 2015 but has been revamped and republished by request – not much has changed! Read to the end to find out how […]
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How to Handle Safety System Paradoxes
Just found this hidden gem by Wade Needham here on LinkedIn How to Handle Safety System Paradoxes As you get promoted it’s easier to take control, to control more of your world they said, well, ‘they’ were wrong. The easy answer to a complex or wicked problem is almost always wrong, if not lacking. I […]
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Safe As We Want To Be
In Phil’s latest article he discusses the paradox of too much safety being harmful. To quote 2 of James Reason’s Safety Paradox’s: “Defences, barriers and safeguards not only protect a system, they can also cause its catastrophic breakdown” and “Many organisations seek to limit the variability of human action, primarily to minimise error, but it […]
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I’m Still Not That Into Safety
A sequel to: I’m just not that into safety anymore Our most popular article this year! Why do you think that is? Rob’s courage and honesty has certainly touched some nerves! I’m just not that into safety anymore I have spoken with a number of Managers over the past few months who have argued with […]
